They didn't just tail off though they completely fell apart. We reverted to an offense worse than that of previous seasons.
It wasn't just Guzman and RZ cold. Dunn and Dukes went through a rough patch too as did Hernandez.
We should be scoring more runs than we have lately. You might win once a week 3-2 or 3-1 but you need to be able to score 5-6 runs a night to win consistently.
Well, most teams don't score 5-6 runs a night consistently. Team ERAs show what teams score on average - somewhere between 3 and 5 runs. Certainly you need to be able to generate big nights to win more often than not.
I agree that they cooled off. I think we're all saying some of the same things. The offense did go cold due to a combination of players going cold at the same time (including key bats in the lineup) and the mental exhaustion of digging an insurmountable hole. It was right to expect that the offense would be impacted by the failure of the pitching and the overall record regardless of what they said. What I am saying is that they don't have to have 9 run games to win. They should be able to win semi-regularly with 3-5 runs, and with the recent stretch of games where they have gotten good SP and seen success, I think the mental attitude of the offense should adjust. They tasted some good victories and have seen some good SP. So they should feel like if they they show up and play it can pay off.
In a way, it was a blessing in disguise that Nick got hit in the shin, because it moved Willingham back over to LF and put Dukes in RF. The Willingham LF/Dunn RF combination may have produced a different outcome regardless of how well JZ pitched. I am not so sure things wouldn't have unfolded differently in some of those situations.
